#THAT'S THE GUY WHO WROTE 'WE ARE SMAP'!!

[hecubus]

you know that thing rhys darby does with his face sometimes

[pacsettravel]

Headlinin’: 11/27/17

We’re having a huge sale today, so please go check that out! Seriously guys, this is the biggest one we’ve ever done. Go get it! :D Alrighty, on to this week’s main story...

MUCH ADO ABOUT DOGEN

I’d like to talk about balls. No, not the sports ones. The kind that are metaphorical, the kind that you have when you stand up for what’s right in the face of intense opposition. I mean, think about it: there’s stuff that takes courage, and there’s stuff that takes balls. Asking someone out to prom? Courage. Telling a Firefly fan to let it go, since Fox canceled their show fifteen years ago? That’s courage with a little bit of balls. Standing up to the bully ten times your size? That’s balls. 

Bringing your baby to work with you when you’re a politician in one of the most male-dominated societies in the world? That’s more balls than you’ll find at a basketball tournament. [Washington Post]

Image courtesy Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images

Just look at this picture. Words fail me. Here, check out the video:

This is Kumamoto City Representative and certified bad ass mama Ogata Yuka and her son Dogen, who has a very nice hairstyle going for someone who’s only seven months old. She made the “mistake” of bringing her son to work with her, which resulted in many male members of the chamber crowding around her and demanding she leave - with some of them even demanding she apologize for doing so (even though Dogen was being a good boy and not making any noise).

According to her official bio, Ogata is a graduate of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and holds a graduate degree from George Mason University in Virginia. She’s also worked as a program officer with the UN’s Development Program in Yemen, which I imagine is not the UN’s easiest mission. After moving back to her hometown, Ogata became interested in local politics and ran on a campaign emphasizing support for working mothers, traffic/pedestrian safety, public health and welfare, and promoting tourism to Kumamoto. [Editor’s note: we’re working on a tour pitch or two, Ogata-shigi!- Team PacSet]

Fun fact: Ogata was elected when her first child was just 1 year old, and the day she brought Dogen to work was her first day back from maternity leave. Now personally, I would have appreciated a “Welcome Back” cake, a balloon bouquet... maybe some of Kumamoto’s famous Ikinari Dango* with a nice message written on it? Like this?

But hey, I guess a bunch of old dudes being rude is kind of like a welcome. I mean, isn’t that how the bullies welcome the nerds back to class in all of those teen movies? Sorry, I digress.

Although child care is provided in municipal assemblies in Kyoto and Akita (as the WaPo points out), Kumamoto’s model male citizens decided to get their pantsu in a bunch over this, eventually forcing Ogata to leave Dogen in the care of a friend before returning to the chamber. 

In a statement, Ogata said that she wanted to bring attention to the tough conditions facing working women in Japan. She’s not wrong; numerous  [Bloomberg/Benchmark] articles [Japan Times] have been written about Japan’s shortage in adequate day care facilities and how hard it is for women in the workforce. In fact, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has cited making the working world more friendly to women a priority, since Japan’s birthrate is declining and the benefits of being a mother are not all that attractive if you want to have a career/support a family in Japan. However, apparently Abe forgot to mention this to fellow LDP member and “guy at the pachinko parlor” Haraguchi Ryoji, who said that Ogata could be “subject to punishment for disturbing the chamber over a personal reason.” [Mainichi Shimbun] Which I guess I understand... I mean, I bet no one in the LDP has ever been in a scandal for personal reasons, right? (Fun game: Google “LDP Scandals” and see how many you can find in 10 minutes!)

The truth is that there is still a cultural stigma against working mothers in many social circles in Japan. Not too long ago, having a baby meant a women would leave work altogether and focus their entire lives on child rearing. Even today, mothers that go against the grain are often harassed by other mothers and people who aren’t parents at all but have so many opinions. Which is probably one of the reasons why Japan’s fleet of online trolls have since invaded Ogata’s Facebook page and are tweeting nasty replies to English language stories about her. Nice of them, isn’t it? 

Regardless, we hope that Ogata-shigi keeps fighting for working women, that we are able to create the best Kumamoto tour EVER, and that Dogen can keep that clean, awesome looking hair forever. <3 Speaking of clean...

I’LL HAVE A WASH AND DRY WITH THAT YAKITORI

If you have traveled with us, you know how tough it can be to find coin laundromats in Japan sometimes. Fortunately, the effort to make them more common just got a massive (and I mean massive) push from a somewhat surprising source: convenience store (conbini) chain Family Mart. (LINE NEWS)

That’s right - one of Japan’s biggest conbini chains, the place where you get a meat bun when you’re hungry, a manga volume when you’re bored, and a Pocari Sweat when you’re drunk, is installing coin laundry! According to an official statement, the company is planning on rolling out the service quickly, with laundry popping up in at least 500 locations by the end of 2019. [Family Mart]

I’ll level with you guys: I’m trying to think of a negative angle to this story, and you know... there just isn’t one. The thought of being able to wash my clothes during FanFest while eating a lemon ice, buying breakfast onigiri for the next morning, and browsing the latest Shonen Sunday? What did I do to deserve this kind of joy?!?!?!?!

The best part? Because the competition between conbini chains in Japan is such a bloodbath, it probably won’t be too long before Lawson or Seven Eleven decides to try out Coin Laundry as well. Japan in the summer is all kinds of humid - keeping it clean is a concept I can definitely get behind.

TAKA IS NOT [ONE] OK [ROCK] WITH SMAP... KINDA

One guy isn’t keeping it clean this week in the world of gossip; ONE OK ROCK front man Taka sent shockwaves across the Japanese interwebs this weekend when he dissed recently disbanded J-Pop royalty SMAP during an appearance on Super Beaver singer Shibuya Ryuuta’s radio show late Thursday night. Although both of their bands specialize in rock and not the kind of J-Pop sound SMAP embodies, the two were discussing which song from the band they like most. Taka’s selection? SMAP’s 1993 single “Ten Dollars”:

This is a somewhat deep cut from the SMAP catalogue; it’s from when the group still had six members, and it wasn’t nearly as popular as SMAP’s turn-of-the-millenia hits Lionheart and Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Everyone in Japan has heard this song twenty million times oh god please make it stop**. 

After the song played, Taka voiced a sentiment that many indie rockers, rappers, and artists in Japan have long thought but always been scared to say. SMAP is... eh. From the man’s own mouth: [Model Press]

“Actually, I hate them, really. I hate SMAP. They’re like Japan’s national group,” said Taka. He’s not exactly wrong; SMAP’s TV show was one of the view where western stars appeared regularly, and even Eric Clapton wrote a song for them. Yes, ERIC CLAPTON. Taka, probably realizing that the internet could twist such a comment out of control quickly, added: “No matter which group you’re in, whether you’re an idol, a superstar... we’re all just human... Being in a group like that shouldn’t be your WHOLE life - that’s tiring. So when I heard SMAP was disbanding, I was thinking, ‘Wow, they really worked hard to come this far...’” I can’t help but agree with Taka myself; to have a group be your entire life until you’re alone again - that’s truly a Mighty Long Fall.

Taka’s comments were also a reflection of the public’s sadness when SMAP disbanded - so much so that many thought the group should keep going. Indeed, artists in Japan that are popular are expected to devote their lives to their work to a degree that many in the west would consider horrifying (just ask any former idol star... ugh). For what it’s worth, many on Twitter and message boards in Japan agreed with Taka on this point. 

Now if some of those nice, sympathetic folks would go help support Ogata Yuka... that would be awesome. 

NOTE: I’m off on Japan Holiday next week, so this column will be on hiatus. We’ll be back in a few weeks with more goodies. Until then, be lovely to each other!

*About the Dango: The popular YouTube series Cooking With Dog (RIP, Francis ;_;) actually did a segment on how to make Ikinari Dango; check it out! We miss you, Francis the Dog... <3

**title edited for accuracy

[sorasunao]

Garish Room #28 [2017 ver. member A to Z case of Reita] part 2

- Obtain (recently acquired thing that increased the intensity of sensations)

Reita: This is due to the story, which I recently mentioned, but it's the fact that I bought the speakers. After I used the previous ones about 8 years, I purchased a new product from Pioneer recently. The stand is attached to the sides of the speakers, and since they do not touch the ground, the sound is quite different. Even the discs, that I used to listen to, were sounded for me with new sensations, the mood was updated and it was fascinating. In these speakers, regardless of if the bass sounded or I did a mixing test on them, they further widened the range, so I could immediately heard sounds that were not played.

- Picture (photo of the times Dainippon itan geisha)

Reita: (Looking at photos from the past) Hmm ...What's that, though a little, but my hair ends sticked out horrible. Still, it's great to be young; since I repainted the black parts of the hair in the blond by myself, there were traces and it was quite noticeable. (loking at photos  「舐～ zetsu ～」 ) Probably they are not so bad, because we look great. How to say...it's great that we look so good on them (laughs). These thrills, now I’m no longer able to do this. And I don’t remember at all why I wore white and blue clothes. It seemed like something complicated, to acquire the necessary skills, and because of this we often performed. Approximately then, it was time, when we inserted symbolic drawings, that was so in Ruki's style, or at that time we also used kanji. The day of filming the video 舐 舐 ~ zetsu ~ 」was very hot. And what was the hottest, the drums, right? Waiting until they corrected makeup of this guy, was very very long, in addition, all suffered greatly because of the heat (laughs).

- Question (things you are skeptical of)

Reita: Our society consists of people who constantly complain [* he is referring to official complaints about the service, as well as the type of fraud ]. And I really don’t like this. Also the reason why I stopped watching TV is, in essence, that the complainants irritate me, but even more I get furious, when, in addition, people around are too involved in this.  I believe that a guy, who is called reckless, is certainly not connected with those who are in a safe place, then "what is this chain of negative" (when bad events occur one after another)  - I often feel something like this.  One part among the complainants has declined quite in number, they seem to have come to common sense. Even if we apply this to our activities,  where, first of all, there is rock and punk, these are not the things that decent people do. "Although you performance to the public, it does not mean anything at all" - I hate such ambience. Jsut because we are people who have crossed the limit "I cann’t do this", we do have a certain pattern, to which we aspire. Still I think it doesn't mean that you can always feel close to us and become friends easily.

-  Resistance (not subject to discussion part)

Reita:  In make-up, when I'm in public places, I play the role of Reita. I don’t feel too much need to show my inner world,  and at the time of applying makeup, I also change what is inside me. And since it's very important, it's the part of me not to discuss.

- Sexy  (a favorite part of the female body and gestures that excite the feelings of men)

Reita: Favorite part ... there is a lot of (laughs).  Navel or so-called «hara chira» (when you accidentally saw someone's stomach, which was hidden under the  clothes  before that),  It seems to me pretty sexy. So, I’d like women to always go screaming "banzai" (laughs) [*  during shouting "banzai", usually raise their hands; so Reita heads to the fact that a T-shirt or a jacket will roll up and you’ll see a navel].

-  Treasure (treasures that you really appreciate)

Reita: The car. I sold the red mustang, that I used on the set for a magazine, 2-3 years ago, and now I drive another car, but I really like it.  Even if it becomes useless, I want to buy another one similar model of the car.  Also recently on Twitter I asked everyone to send me a photo of their cars, because I also was interested to see the cars of other people, do they have any stickers, or maybe they were a little remodeled, or how they have chosen an interior finish.  Since I also grew up in the countryside, I drove the car from the age of 18, so having a car was something  certain.  When you go by car, it's like a secret room, in which no one can enter, and I also really like it.

- Under ( kohai, which you accept)

Reita: Basically, I don't admit them because of their meager skills (laughs). Speaking of kohais, are they not rivals to us? A long time ago, since I showed some enmity directed at the guys, who performed together with us at concerts as rivals, I didn't like the fact that I had to admit them openly. Therefore, even now I still don't support the relationship with kohais.

-  Violence (episodes when you were very angry)

Reita:  Hahaha! When was I angry? It happened only once, but ... because the other members are not such to be angry (laughs). It was about 5 years ago, during the tour, I scolded loudly, I think that neither before nor after I didn't do this, only at that time. I think, in that situation, probably, it would be wrong not to get mad at a new employee, bass technician. Since I always make mistakes, I don’t blame people when they also make them,  but due to some mistakes, my head was just full of various worries, later, too, mistakes continued to follow one after another. This went on and made me angry. And since I couldn’t change this feeling, it wasn’t very good. I think that one mistake isn't a mistake at all. A real mistake is to continue to make the same mistake repeatedly.  So the next day I talked with him as always with a smile... No, if I were angry, it would be something very serious (laughs).  

-  Warning (what do you pay attention to in your daily life)

Reita: For a long time, I always received instructions from my Mom like "I think you should have your own opinion on any issue" and the words "listen well to what people say" penetrated into my soul. Therefore, even though I say "but I think in this way", but I don't impose my opinion over this. Now I have this way of dealing with others "it's clear, there are such people". I wonder if it's good or bad. And, maybe there is also the fact  in me that I don't have inflated expectations about people. I think that's probably why I'm not angry with them.  I have no thoughts like "I want to do something, or I want to tell them something", so, maybe that’s why I'm not angry. Only me can understand what is me, and probably there is no need to try to make you understand me, if it’s against your will.

-  X-factor (what would you like to try to do in the future that you never did before)

Reita: It's about acting, there is one documentary video from the tour, where once long ago Hide-san became angry in the locker room and hurled a mirror, that split into parts. So I would like to do something like this (laughs).  I do not often get a chance to break things in my daily life.

-  Yesterday  (what did you do yesterday, from the moment when you woke up before you went to bed)

Reita:  In the morning I woke up at 8 o'clock, since the day before was the last episode of  "SMAP × SMAP" [* TV show, organized by SMAP. The last episode was shown on December 26 and after 28 years the group ceased its activity]. I wrote a tweet "good morning", combining it in meaning with this theme. In fact, we had to go with Ruki to photoshooting for the album of the best ballads, but it began to rain, all were canceled, and we hastily left there.Therefore, after cleaning up my room, I went to the gym. After training the muscles, I ran and then made stretching. It seems to me that if you start the morning with body training, much will be done in the right way.  Well, since the stories about muscle training will be badly received by the public, let's stop on this (laughs).

-  Zero (what you would like to get rid of)

Reita:  Still, I really would like to forget that during the performance I fell, I really want to forget it.  Even on tour 「DOGMA」 I once very effectively fell, seems it was in Yamagata.  It also was included in the documentary, but since now we live in a society that constantly uses social networks, it would be known fact for everyone in any case, right? So, after the performance, I told about it by myself.  There is nothing left but to make this the topic of a popular discussion (laughs). 

translated from japanese to russian by shimizu_ran.vk for the_gazette_quotes.vk

translated from russian to english by me

as always thx for reading and sorry for mistakes ^^